Uterus
ReproductiveOrgansPelvis
Shown on the female body.
- What it is
- Thick-walled, pear-shaped muscular organ between the bladder and the rectum, normally tipped forward over the bladder (anteverted and anteflexed). Its dome-shaped fundus lies above the openings of the uterine tubes, above the body and isthmus.
- Function
- Receives the embryo, nourishes the growing fetus and expels it by powerful myometrial contractions in labour; sheds its lining each month as menstruation.
- Size
- About 7.5 × 5 × 2.5 cm and 50–70 g in a woman who has not given birth; the wall (myometrium) is 1.5–2 cm thick.
- Clinical note
- In pregnancy it grows to about 1 kg and reaches the ribs; fibroids (leiomyomas) are common benign tumours of its muscle.